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room service

American  

noun

  1. the serving of food, drinks, etc., to a guest in their room, as at a hotel.

  2. the department or section, as at a hotel, responsible for rendering service of food, drinks, etc., to a guest in their room.


room service British  

noun

  1. service in a hotel providing meals, drinks, etc, in guests' rooms

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of room service

First recorded in 1925–30

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

For two days, she sleeps until 1 p.m. or 2 p.m., orders room service, takes a nap before dinner and then sleeps through the night.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 17, 2026

I told Sun I got to know Juan Romero, the Ambassador Hotel busboy who cradled the wounded Kennedy, whom he had met earlier while delivering room service.

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 20, 2025

After my phenomenal experience with room service at the Atlanta location, we opted for a burger and pasta for a late night meal, but both were unfortunately a miss.

From Salon • Oct. 31, 2025

And it will be restricting those who order room service to two meals per person — as opposed to the previous no-limit policy.

From MarketWatch • Oct. 16, 2025

We decide to order room service, to have the food delivered to our room, and guess what they had on the menu?

From "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" by Sherman Alexie

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